To ask you all to teach me how to cook?

[HelpICantCook]

To my shame, I've got to 40, and I really can't cook.

I've got a few recipes that I'm ok at (macaroni cheese, tuna pasta bake, spaghetti Bol, various pasta and sauces), but in general I'm crap. I have no inspiration as to what to cook, and most of my stuff ends up fairly tasteless.

(If you are wondering how on earth I've got to this age without being able to cook, I have had eating disorders from my teens and throughout my 20s and 30s, and I don't get a lot of enjoyment from food. Still now, even though my eating is much better, I calorie count everything, because it's impossible to forget how many calories are in things once you know, and I find eating and cooking quite stressful)

However, I am quite ashamed not to be able to cook properly, and I've got 2 kids who I'd like to try and be a bit more creative and inventive for. I've also started a new business thing which may require me to cook for families on occasion, and the thought of that fills me with utter dread.

So, can you help? Easy recipe ideas? Where do I start? DS1 would eat pasta for every meal if he could, so ideas with pasta would be a good start.

Thank you!

Depending on your budget it might be an idea to try some of the cooking boxes available (Gousto) etc. They quite often have big discounts for new customers. You don't have to continue but it's a good way of gaining confidence and trying new things without much hassle. It helped me get a bit more adventurous and I've used some of the recipes several times over.

I don't want to sound harsh but if you can read you can cook. Recipes literally tell you what to do.
And for very basic things Delia Smith has helpful tips (I'm thinking mash potato/gravy etc)
Have a look on Pinterest for some easy recipes you like the look off and just give it a bash :)

Can I suggest the Jamie Oliver cook book Ministey of Food. Designed to get ppl into cooking,and really well laid out.

May I suggest the video recipes on youtube? They're amazing and they literally walk you through it. I love it

PPs idea of getting gousto/hello fresh for a few months is a great one. You can choose the meals you're sent and they have clear instructions on how to cook them from scratch. Then you can reuse the recipe cards in future if there was one you liked.

Go to the library and borrow some cookery books or magazines.

I really rate the Usborne "Beginners Cook Book" (used copies for about £3 online) as it has many of the basic recipes for things like roast chicken, cheesecake, spaghetti carbonara, Spanish omelette etc. It also has illustrations and tips on things like the difference between "stiff peaks" and "soft peaks" when whisking; how to pan fry chicken or fish; the different kitchen equipment and what it's used for. It really is for beginners but I still use it all the time!

Try some of the Jamie 5 ingredients recipes. They are good and when you feel a bit more confident you can chuck in extras to make them more varied.

BBC good food online has so many REALLY simple recipes and tray bakes combinations. I swear by it when I’m stuck for inspiration. They even have a one tray chicken roast!

Delia did a ‘how to cook’ book. Literally started with how to boil eggs.

Find some recipes that you fancy and give them a go. If you can read you can cook. Start small, something straightforward and build your confidence.

Another vote for Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food. Its a fantastic all-round cook book covering a lot of British favourites as well as some more 'fancy' recipes for when you've gained some confidence. The recipes are totally foolproof as they've been designed for beginners and the results are delicious. I am not a beginner in the kitchen but have added lots of these recipes to my repertoire - they're easoecially good for midweek dinners as many are fairly simple!

Ps I am not Jamie (or Jools) Oliver!

There’s a Canadian women who has 2 cookbooks: Clueless in the Kitchen and the Clueless Baker. They’re aimed at teens but honestly, they’re fantastic. Not patronising, good dishes (learned how to make a fantastic white sauce/roux, pineapple makes your carrot cake moist, etc) and built up my confidence cooking when I was in my late 20’s. I know I bought 1 off U.K. Amazon a few years ago.

Get hold of a copy of Delia's book - How To Cook I think - which really does start with the absolute basics - and follow her recipes to the letter.

As you become more experienced with basics, you'll feel more able to deviate or experiment.

If you can read, there's really no excuse for saying you 'can't' cook. It just means taking a little time and trouble - and planning ahead to some extent, to make sure you have the ingredients for what you're planning to cook later.

Thanks all for the suggestions so far.

I think part of the problem is that I never have any craving for anything. So when you say "find something you fancy", I never really fancy anything! I'd probably happily eat bread and butter (and maybe some apples) for the rest of my life if I had a choice!

Anyway, that's beside the point.

Maybe I'll ask the kids to have a look with me and see what they fancy, and then try and make one of those.

The 5 ingredient recipes appeal a lot. Some of the ones with a page full of ingredients completely put me off. That would feel overwhelming.

(I realise how pathetic I sound!)

A monthly subscription to a food magazine might help: Good Food, Delicious and Olive all have loads of ideas and meal plans.

Another recommendation from me for Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food . Excellent book simple to follow

Sounds like you have got pasta down really, just use the internet to try different sauces etc... You could try lasagne if you can do a meat and white sauce already.

How about roasts and stews next, neither are that difficult and children tend to like them. Start with chicken, you can even buy pre prepped trays/bag chickens so you can focus on experimenting with different roast vegetables. Mashed potato/veg with sausages is easy too as is pan fried/grilled chicken/fish/steak and boiled veg.

You can also buy good curry sauce pots with spice pot separate and sauce, chop up chicken breast or thigh fillets and throw on the spices, fry, then add sauce, no need to do from scratch at first if you just want to try out new flavours on the kids first. Once you are more confident with the process you could then try from scratch with the spices, tinned tomatoes and coconut milk etc... There are loads of recipes online.

Look online...BBC food, Delicious, Olive...Great recipes.
I had no interest in cooking till I was 40...And now I am passionate! Veggie food is so easy and tasty

Loads of great recommendations above, but I have to ask, if you don't enjoy eating and cooking and can't really cook, why on earth would you start a business which involved that?

I used the Ministry of food book and it helped me- also you can use veggie mince etc if needed - very simple and great results.

I think a book may be more useful than the internet for a beginner, as if you haven't got a clue where to start, what do you look for?

Delia's How to Cook, or Nigella's how to Eat could be good starting points. Another good one would be Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, he speaks about food in such a beautifully lyrical way that you can't fail to be inspired to cook some of the dishes, it's nicely seasonal too, so talks you through a year of cooking (they're all simple recipes, nothing too technical).

Finally, you say your food is lacking flavour, are you using enough seasoning? Most people undersalt food in my experience. If you're not using processed foods there's no need to be scared of salt!

When it's brown it's done, when it's black it's buggered.

Ihopeyourcakeisshit ha, good question! It’s a mother’s help type job, so it won’t always involve cooking, but occasionally it will. It’s not the focus of the job, and not many clients have asked for it, but there is the potential that they might.

@123bananas that was really helpful, thanks.

Have searched online for recipes with 5 ingredients and they seem doable, so will have a look with the kids and pick some to try.

I find, if my girls enjoy what I make then I enjoy the cooking process more. If you can do a spag Bol then you could do tacos-mine love those and they’re easy to do. Fajitas go down well too. Bonus is you can start with the ‘kits’ and then progress to making your own from scratch as your confidence grows

It doesn't sound pathetic to me. I'm 40 and a rubbish cook. It's a long standing joke with my eldest 2 DC that I can't even cook a pizza without burning it, and sadly there is some truth in it

Fortunately my partner is an excellent cook!